At last week’s NATO summit, held in the United States, Britain’s newly-elected prime minister ‘Sir’ Keir Starmer lost no time in prostrating himself before the Washington warhawks.
Coming a week after his ‘landslide’ election victory, this conference of the US-led military alliance was Starmer’s chance to shine on the global stage, and ingratiate himself with the leaders of the western world.
Leaving aside our criticisms of Sir Keir for a moment, we must give the man some credit: he really did blend in well with this gang of cut-throats, knaves, and war criminals. Good on him!
Special relationship
Like night follows day, the Labour leader reassured his NATO allies that his government will continue the exact same policy as his Tory predecessors: that of unconditional support for the interests of western imperialism, and its drive towards militarism.
Starmer sat down for numerous talks with US President Joe Biden throughout the summit. Whether Biden had any idea who he was talking to is a matter we will leave to the field of medical science.
The pair reaffirmed their mutual commitment to the so-called ‘special relationship’ between the UK and US.
The word ‘relationship’ might suggest some degree of affinity between these two nations. But make no mistake, this is nothing more than a relationship between a slave and his master.
But in his speech at the summit’s press conference, Starmer insisted that “Britain belongs on the world stage”.
Just like the phrase “Joe Biden is not senile”, this statement rapidly loses any validity when it has to be spoken aloud.
European ‘reset’
In reality, far from cementing Britain’s role as a world power, one of the main planks of Starmer’s trip was the announcement that his government would seek closer military and diplomatic ties right on its doorstep with Europe.
This news was warmly received by Biden and his coterie, who understand that the only valuable role Britain can play is that of America’s regional outpost in Europe.
For this reason, Boris Johnson’s gung-ho Brexit policy was disastrous for US interests in Europe. But in Starmer, Washington now has a more reliable servant, who will happily re-tie the transatlantic knot.
With this aim in mind, Labour’s foreign secretary David Lammy has set out to “reset” Britain’s relations with Europe. This includes working towards a bilateral security agreement with Germany, taking part in the European Defence Fund, and signing a UK-EU security pact.
And tomorrow, more than 45 European leaders will meet at Blenheim Palace, near Oxford, for the fourth European Political Community summit, to discuss topics like the Ukraine war, security, and ‘democracy’.
Short of re-joining the EU, which Starmer has ruled out, this informal body is perfectly suited for Labour’s ambitions.
All talk of ‘Britain’s role on the world stage’ is just choreographed guff for the cameras. Behind the scenes, everyone knows the real score.
As we’ve explained previously, Labour understands that Britain no longer has the economic or military strength to act as a world power.
The new government is therefore aiming to cut Britain’s role down to a more suitable size, by looking across the Channel, focussing on the continent, and subsuming Britain even more to US (and by extension European) imperialism.
Billions for bombs
The main focus of the NATO summit was, of course, the Ukraine war.
As part of Zelensky’s annual humiliation ritual, Ukraine’s prospective NATO membership was dangled in front of him like a carrot.
The alliance’s joint statement read: “We reaffirm that we will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the Alliance when Allies agree and conditions are met” – which is a diplomatic way of saying “you aren’t invited”.
But don’t feel too sorry for Kyiv, because they didn’t leave empty handed. The Allies handed them another £33bn in military aid – which, as one Washington-based think-tank commented, is enough to keep the bloodshed going, but not enough for Ukraine to win the war.
To prove his mettle to his new partners-in-crime, Starmer had to put his money where his mouth is.
The PM therefore made an “iron-cast” promise to increase Britain’s military spending to 2.5 percent of GDP – the equivalent of £87bn by the end of the decade – and called on other NATO member states to do the same.
Even this didn’t placate the top brass, however. The outgoing head of the British Army, Patrick Saunders, insisted that spending must go well beyond 2.5 percent in order to modernise Britain’s decrepit armed forces.
As the drive towards militarism continues across the world, we can expect this number to go up and up.
And if that wasn’t enough, Starmer also pledged an extra £3bn per year of direct military support to Ukraine. This comes on top of the £12.5bn already thrown into the meatgrinder by Britain since Russia’s invasion in March 2022.
Starmer stated that support will last “as long as it takes” – which, given the disastrous way things are going for Zelensky’s forces, might not be very long.
In other words, our new PM is willing to lavish billions on a hopeless military adventure, causing untold misery and instability in the process, all to defend the geopolitical interests of the American empire.
To cap it off, Starmer reiterated Labour’s commitment to Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent, whose planned replacement is estimated to cost upwards of £200bn. This would have the same financial impact as firing Britain’s gold reserves into outer-space.
Broken Britain
At home, meanwhile, Britain’s public services and institutions are quite literally crumbling apart.
One recent article in the Financial Times highlighted this inexorable “levelling down”: “Since 2010…more than 800 public libraries, 1,000 swimming pools, over 200 playing fields, half of all magistrate courts, and 1,000 public toilets have been closed.”
The NHS is on its knees. Universities and local councils are on the brink of bankruptcy. Prisons are full. The steel industry is being killed off. And so on, ad infinitum. Not a single stone has been left unturned by the deep crisis of British capitalism.
And that’s not to mention the impact this is having on workers in all sectors, who are forced to foot the bill in the form of wage cuts, longer hours, tougher workloads, and redundancies.
A recent study by the Intergenerational Foundation found that UK child poverty rose by 20% from 2014-2021.
And yet the same Starmer who has pledged all these billions towards war and destruction abroad has refused to commit to lifting the two-child benefit cap, which will affect a record 1.6m of Britain’s poorest children this year. This policy would only cost £3.4bn!
For comparison, here is a list of things that could be paid for by scrapping Starmer’s plans for UK ‘defence’ spending.
- Fixing every crumbling school in England: £150m
- Settling the junior doctors’ pay dispute: £1bn
- Nationwide free school meals for primary school pupils: £4.3bn per year*
- Abolishing tuition fees: £10bn per year
- Universal comprehensive social care: £17bn per year
- Universal comprehensive child care: £17.8bn per year
- Fixing every single pothole in the country: £14.4bn
- Insulating every home in Britain: £12-15bn per year for ten years
Down with imperialism!
The gaping contradiction between the dilapidation and decay in Britain, which reaches deep into the lives of ordinary people, and the mountains of cash being lavished on weapons manufacturers and war criminals like Netanyahu, will not go unnoticed.
Starmer’s talk of ‘fiscal responsibility’, ‘balancing the books’, and ‘tough choices’ will increasingly ring hollow. We can see that there’s enough wealth in society to fix the mess we’re in. The problem is that it’s in the wrong hands.
But this isn’t just down to one or two bad policy decisions. Starmer is merely upholding the interests of western imperialism.
The drive towards militarism is taking place across the world, as the world economy continues to stagnate, and the big powers vie for markets and spheres of influence.
Capitalism has nothing to offer us but instability and destruction, at home and abroad. The stinking hypocrisy of Starmer’s government will force thousands of workers and young people to draw the conclusion that we must end this barbaric system.
Here in Britain, we must fight to bring down the war criminals in Westminster, and the imperialist system they represent, as part of an international struggle against capitalism, militarism, and war.
Down with imperialism! For books, not bombs! For healthcare, not warfare!
*Calculated based on the cost of London’s free school meals programme.
